OT: Coronavirus Resources - and other things to not worry about

[CH1]

the interesting thing will be next fall, if society gets back to normal, the regular non-covid flu should return, so it's going to be confusing when you get a fever -- is it covid (panic about your oxygen levels) or just influenza (suck it up)

 

[UWHabs]

the interesting thing will be next fall, if society gets back to normal, the regular non-covid flu should return, so it's going to be confusing when you get a fever -- is it covid (panic about your oxygen levels) or just influenza (suck it up)

The curious part will be how many of these various measures we're doing now just become and stay normal, and what impact that has on regular flu. So yeah, obviously at some point we're not going to be in the "I have a mild fever so to visit me you need to be wearing a biohazard suit", but will it simply just be normal to perpetually be wearing masks when doing your basic shopping during flu season? If more and more places work from home more often, you're going to get a lot less office infections going around too. Heck, even if people do more outdoor gatherings even in mildly bad weather vs crowding into pubs or bars, that could seriously drop flu rates too.

 

[Preston]

Less than 3% of serious COVID cases are fully vaccinated, proving effectiveness

Only 175 of the 6,095 coronavirus patients hospitalized in serious or critical condition since the start of Israel's vaccination campaign have received a second shot

www.timesofisrael.com

Not expecting Canada to be in the same boat since we're using some inferior vaccines while Israel is all Pfizer, but regardless this is nice to read. Seems like with Pfizer it's that second dose that makes it a fucking beautiful miracle vaccine. First dose looks comparable to J&J; maybe a touch worse.

 

[Volcanologist]

The curious part will be how many of these various measures we're doing now just become and stay normal, and what impact that has on regular flu. So yeah, obviously at some point we're not going to be in the "I have a mild fever so to visit me you need to be wearing a biohazard suit", but will it simply just be normal to perpetually be wearing masks when doing your basic shopping during flu season? If more and more places work from home more often, you're going to get a lot less office infections going around too. Heck, even if people do more outdoor gatherings even in mildly bad weather vs crowding into pubs or bars, that could seriously drop flu rates too.

It will be for me. also whenever on subway etc. during that season.

 

[G-Dub]

Question for the virologists here: can a vaccine potentially help cure long haulers suffering with symptoms? My grandson used to be a D1 athlete, but he can barely walk around the block anymore without getting winded. I'm wondering if there's any hope for him.

Thanks and Gosh Bless,
MSOS

 

[CH1]

Less than 3% of serious COVID cases are fully vaccinated, proving effectiveness

Only 175 of the 6,095 coronavirus patients hospitalized in serious or critical condition since the start of Israel's vaccination campaign have received a second shot

www.timesofisrael.com

Not expecting Canada to be in the same boat since we're using some inferior vaccines while Israel is all Pfizer, but regardless this is nice to read. Seems like with Pfizer it's that second dose that makes it a fucking beautiful miracle vaccine. First dose looks comparable to J&J; maybe a touch worse.

I read somewhere that if JJ was handled as a two doser...the results would be just as miraculous as Pfizer's

 

[CH1]

It will be for me. also whenever on subway etc. during that season.

makes sense...I was thinking more along the lines that I will likely catch "something" next year as things open up (as opposed to this past year where I haven't even experienced a minor sore throat). Then I enter "guessing on google" mode. Not fun.

I'm hoping that at-home testing kits will be reliable/plentiful next yr...but really don't trust our governments to deliver.

 

[Preston]

I read somewhere that if JJ was handled as a two doser...it would be just as miraculous as Pfizer

They're doing two doser trials already for them. It's likely to be similar to the Russian sputnik one, which is the moderna to JJ's Pfizer (very similar vaccines). So around 90% from around 70%. I expect anyone who gets that vax will get a second dose eventually. .

And we're all getting boosters from the SA variant which tbh as long as there are no other concerning variants could be the "end."

 

[CH1]

As an aside, I was talking to my buddy in NYC today....he's getting the Pfizer one today. His wife is getting the Moderna one.

He simply logged on to the website yesterday....and secured an appointment today. #easypeasy

 

[anne25]

I’m jealous.

 

[CH1]

I hung up on him, and blocked his number.

 

[Killer93]

Fire Trudeau and Ford

 

[leaffan2005]

As an aside, I was talking to my buddy in NYC today....he's getting the Pfizer one today. His wife is getting the Moderna one.

He simply logged on to the website yesterday....and secured an appointment today. #easypeasy

Yup, the US has done a much better job with vaccine rollout compared to Canada, with a much higher population and many more states to coordinate.

 

[worm]

One thing I'll say about the vaccines is that, yes it's true that there have been 0 deaths for anyone who got vaccinated but that is going to change in a real world situation. One of the criticisms in the trials was that there were very few deaths or even serious cases across the board, even from those who received the placebo. Very few old folks took part in the trial so I would take that statistic with a big fat grain of salt. This idea that the vaccines will turn covid into the sniffles for everyone is great. I love the idea and I'd sign up for that. But there is little data to back that up at this point.

Case in point: between J&J, novavax, Pfizer and moderna there were 73 severe cases total; 6 were vaccinated, rest were placebo. I think there were under 10 deaths total (in the placebo group) so to use that 100% statistic confidently is a bit aggressive.

There will be a reduction, maybe even a significant one, but it won't be perfect and we should still be somewhat careful at least until transmission significantly decreases. Or at the least, the vulnerable people should be careful and we should continue to try to protect them.


Tldr: don't go licking your 90 year old relatives once they're vaccinated. They're still high risk as long as there's transmission.

dont we have like 100 million fully vaccinated people? including lots of oldies

have any of them died from covid?

 

[Preston]

dont we have like 100 million fully vaccinated people? including lots of oldies

have any of them died from covid?

Yes in Israel some have died. It seems like so far the risk of death is decreased by around 98.9% with both doses of the Pfizer vaccine so still absolutely amazing. And that doesn't include severe cases that result in permanent damage, though severe cases have decreased too. But a ~99% reduction in death based on early numbers is still unbelievable.

Granted, I know a lot of people are trying to make it seem like all vaccines are created equal, but Pfizer really is the gold standard. The others won't be quite the same.


EDIT: And of course these numbers don't include the South African variant and we know that variant has some immunity escape properties; so tldr: caution is still required. Life will be waaaaaaaay better by late summer/early fall but it won't be completely normal till 2022 at the very earliest and possibly later. We need the entire planet vaccinated and given a 3rd dose (booster) for the variants. A ~70% effective vaccine won't get us to herd immunity.. We need a Pfizer caliber vax with boosters to cover the variants and we may legitimately have a chance to come close to eradicating this.

 

[Wayward DP]

or, in other words, widespread vaccination, round one, is but one step of many in our path to returning to normal.

which makes sense, I just hope everyone realigns and manages their expectations accordingly.

 

[Preston]

or, in other words, widespread vaccination, round one, is but one step of many in our path to returning to normal.

which makes sense, I just hope everyone realigns and manages their expectations accordingly.

Basically yeah. We need to reduce transmission first by vaccinating EVERYONE in the world. We're not out of the dark until every country from Canada to Nicaragua is fully vaccinated. And then next we need to tackle the variants that have somewhat evaded immunity.. And hope that a trickier mutation doesn't come about in the meantime. Eradication will be hard and probably unlikely but it should always be the goal from a public health perspective. You don't want this thing to continue transmitting and give it a chance to form some heinous mutation longer term.

And we just got pretty good news about the SA and Brazlian variants that may suggest that eradication is possible by use of a booster providing we don't get another pain in the ass variant. Which would be cool.

 

[Wayward DP]

Basically yeah. We need to reduce transmission first by vaccinating EVERYONE in the world. We're not out of the dark until every country from Canada to Nicaragua is fully vaccinated. And then next we need to tackle the variants that have somewhat evaded immunity.. And hope that a trickier mutation doesn't come about in the meantime. Eradication will be hard and probably unlikely but it should always be the goal from a public health perspective. You don't want this thing to continue transmitting and give it a chance to form some heinous mutation longer term.

And we just got pretty good news about the SA and Brazlian variants that may suggest that eradication is possible by use of a booster providing we don't get another pain in the ass variant. Which would be cool.

lol curious to know why Nicaragua is the endpoint/benchmark.

but yeah, makes sense. unfortunately I fear the muppets who get vaccinated will think that is their ticket to return to how things were pre-pandemic, which has the potential to actually do the opposite. will need good messaging from our idjit leaders.

and of course, failure to vaccinate enough people anywhere in the world means that transmission can continue and more mutations can emerge which require more vaccinations/boosters, etc. and so the cycle continues. which again emphasizes the importance of getting everyone vaccinated, everywhere from Albania to Zambia

 

[Preston]

lol curious to know why Nicaragua is the endpoint/benchmark.

but yeah, makes sense. unfortunately I fear the muppets who get vaccinated will think that is their ticket to return to how things were pre-pandemic, which has the potential to actually do the opposite. will need good messaging from our idjit leaders.

and of course, failure to vaccinate enough people anywhere in the world means that transmission can continue and more mutations can emerge which require more vaccinations/boosters, etc. and so the cycle continues. which again emphasizes the importance of getting everyone vaccinated, everywhere from Albania to Zambia

I chose the poorest country in the Americas to prove a point (plus my better half is from there so it was the first country to come to mind)! Though I'm pretty sure Haiti is poorer now so I fucked that one up. Albania to Zambia has a better ring to it too. Fucking Preston.

 

[Preston]

In any event, we're ramping up vax capacity in a major way so hopefully we'll be able to pump out the boosters for the variants far quicker than round 1. We should be far better prepared heading into next year. Hell, we'll even start production in Canada by then! I think they said they'll have a capacity of 2m doses per month which isn't great but it's something! Go Canada! Always reactive, never proactive, but we'll fucking take it!